Today in Politics: With eye on Phase 6, PM Modi, Rahul Gandhi to hold rallies in Delhi

With campaigning for the 49 Phase 5 seats ending on Saturday, parties are turning their attention to the 58 seats going to polls in Phase 6, including all seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi and all 10 in Haryana.

After addressing rallies in Haryana’s Ambala and Sonipat on Saturday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to hold his first rally of this election campaign in the national capital at a Delhi Development Authority ground that falls in the vicinity of three Lok Sabha constituencies – East, North East and Chandni Chowk.

The BJP had swept all seven Delhi seats in the last two Lok Sabha polls, with neither the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) nor the Congress able to dent the BJP’s hold here. However, this time, the BJP is facing a Congress-AAP alliance. With a 4-3 split between the AAP and Congress, Delhi is among the handful of states where the two parties, both members of the Opposition INDIA bloc, are coordinating.

The BJP has employed an aggressive strategy in Delhi, dropping six of its seven sitting MPs (barring Manoj Tiwari in North East Delhi), possibly in a bid to overcome anti-incumbency. Among those dropped include former Union ministers Harsh Vardhan and Meenakshi Lekhi, who had won their seats in 2014 and 2019. Cricketer-turned-politician Gautam Gambhir and singer Hans Raj Hans were also dropped.

The new faces introduced by the BJP include first-time candidate and the late Sushma Swaraj’s daughter Bansuri Swaraj and Delhi Assembly LoP Ramvir Singh Bidhuri.

It remains to be seen if Modi will mention the Swati Maliwal alleged assault case, over which the BJP has been protesting against the AAP. Rajya Sabha MP Maliwal has accused Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s aide Bibhav Kumar of physical assault, verbal abuse,